It was, initially, a contrived exhibition intended to piggyback on the Australian Open, provide guaranteed match practice for players returning from their winter break and fill a niche in the not particularly crowded Perth summer sports market. Although, to describe the Hopman Cup as anything other than a bone fide event in which the matches were contested with the ferocity of world-title fights once attracted the ire of the tournament's enthusiastic co-founder, Paul McNamee.

More recently, the Hopman Cup has been granted some quasi-official status by the International Tennis Federation and embraced as part of Tennis Australia's now very compact summer of tennis. Consequently, McNamee's 24-year involvement with the tournament ended - rather messily - earlier this year.

So the sight of the omnipresent McNamee running the show will be missing when the Hopman Cup commences. That follows the tournament's switch to Channel Ten for the last edition, which deprived the long-running broadcaster ABC of one of the few live events of national significance remaining on its sporting dance card.

The changes continue this year. Ten will telecast the first Hopman Cup to be played in the new Perth Arena from December 29 to January 5. Which, from hardened sports fans, will beg the immediate question: who cares? Other, that is, than the enthusiastic Perth fans who give what seems - from the other side of the continent - fairly lacklustre warm-up matches and hit'n'giggle mixed doubles rubbers the raucous atmosphere of a bloody bullfight.

However, luckily for Ten, its second dip at the Hopman Cup comes with the added bonus of Bernard Tomic, who will partner exciting 16-year-old Ashleigh Barty (a late replacement for the injured Casey Dellacqua). After a season during which he seemed to spend more time in the Magistrates Court than on the centre court, Tomic's first appearance of the summer is intriguing.

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Has the tyro been chastened by the harsh words of Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter and even the usually mild-mannered Sam Stosur? Will he abandon his alleged habit of giving up when the going gets tough? In the recreational atmosphere of the Hopman Cup, where the players' ball is as keenly anticipated as the final, will anyone notice if he's trying or not?

World No.1 Novak Djokovic also represents something of a coup for the organisers and the broadcasters. Djokovic will be part of an all-star partnership with Ana Ivanovic, so get ready for the Serb-and-volley puns.

Ten's presenters will be the amiable Tim Gossage and Mark ''Howie'' Howard, whose penchant for calling every athlete on the planet ''mate'' means he is either the world's most popular man, or has an extremely annoying way of ingratiating himself with the victims of his supercilious interviews.

But the star of the commentary team is Darren Cahill, whose work as both a coach - most notably with Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi - and commentator has been exemplary. It is a shame he is contracted to ESPN, rather than Seven, for the Australian Open.

The enthusiastic Alicia Molik also gets a microphone, as does veteran Fred Stolle, who provides a living link to the Davis Cup coach Harry Hopman, for whom the tournament is named.

But, given the nature of the event, you wonder if the commercial network can do much to pump up the traditionally low-key atmosphere. Give it an official title, wave the national flags and bring in a few big names, but the Hopman Cup will always be an exhibition rather than a ferociously contested title. With the exception of ''Howie'' becoming close personal friends with everyone from the players to the racquet stringers, Ten hasn't been able to change that.